Headstones, also known as grave markers, are large slabs placed over graves and prepurchased plots. “Pre-need headstones,” as they are known in the industry, are headstones purchased with one or more plots (also known as spaces) prior to the death of loved one(s). The headstone(s) are ordered, installed and remain in place, potentially for years before the purchased space becomes ready for occupancy. For the covered plot to be opened, the pre-need headstone must be temporarily removed.
Many headstones have a vase for flowers and have bronze plaque(s) mounted on a granite slab to identify the deceased in a particular space within cemeteries. The vase may be mounted within or outside of the plaque. A bronze plaque may contain names, birth and death dates, and epitaph messages.
Because of the heavy equipment in use around cemetery grounds such as backhoes or other reasons such as weather events, vases occasionally need to be inverted or turned upside down and placed in buried vase cups to protect the vases. Attached to and penetrating through many headstones is a vase and vase cup (together a “vase assembly”). The vase cup is the portion that goes through slab and protrudes through the bottom of the slab into the ground. Some vase cups are located directly within the slab fixed with a vase ring while others are located in the slab-plaque cross section, shortening the protrusion distance into the ground by around 1-2 inches. The plastic vase cups of a commonly used vase assemblies are 9-12 inches deep and 5 inches in diameter and protrudes through the slab into the ground by about 4-8 inches.
This protruding portion of the vase cup makes placement of the headstone on the ground complicated. Headstones, when unearthed and out of the ground, are placed on anything the cemetery operations staff can find. Headstones are often placed on cinder blocks, wood, and milk crates to support the unearthed headstone.